Do plants have a nervous system? Can they feel pain? These are questions that have exercised everyone from Charles Darwin to L Ron Hubbard.

Political leadership is a form of storytelling, and no amount of mere fact-checking will ever serve to counteract a narrative that a significant mass of the public feels in its bones to be true.

Annual "best-of" list making remains an imperfect method for honoring significant work, and raises all sorts of questions.

The new films Argo and The Iran Job offer two very different portraits of the country and its people.

Before shooting began, Knightley studied both Tolstoy's 950-page novel and "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia." But the actress made a point of staying away from the many screen and TV adaptations of "Anna Karenina" that have popped up through the years.

The new book, "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking," makes a case for pessimists.

There are two problems with Iran's latest military games. First of all, the Iranians tend to exaggerate. They hype their weapons to make them look more powerful than they really are to frighten and intimidate their enemies. Second is that the Iranians often pass off old versions of weapons as new.

In his latest book, How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil argues that reverse-engineering a human brain is the best route to creating high functioning AI.

Pheed is a new social network with star-studded user base that allows members to upload multimedia content to their profiles, including audio, video, photos and text updates. What differentiates it from other players in the space is that it allows users to directly monetize their content.

As the political map turns blue, the right wing's favorite flick stages a comeback.

Despite great efforts, Billy Graham and his flock failed to pull out a Romney win. Is the "values voter" era over?

Recent findings in happiness research appear to vindicate the wisdom of novelist Gertrude Stein's wry observation, "Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop."

There's nothing objectionable about the new Anna Karenina film starring Keira Knightley. But she won't be my Anna.

The landscapes around Moab may not be as untracked as they were a half century ago when Edward Abbey worked there as a seasonal ranger and wrote what would become the environmental classic Desert Solitaire, green travelers interested in otherworldly natural scenery, exhilarating adventure and eco-friendly culture will still find plenty to love.

Processed foods and food packaging already contain nanoparticles -- some of which could be harmful to our health.

To Survive, GOP should out-Democrat the Democrats.

Certainly, labels can be beneficial. In a school setting, a formal label determined by a school psychologist can be the only thing that gets a child needed special resources. But labels do have a potential downside.

Political scientist Corey Robin, author of "The Reactionary Mind," believes a sense of loss animates modern conservatism.

Inequality squeezes both how healthy we are and the healthcare we get. Time to get past it

The Republican Party is wildly out of touch with the majority of Americans who consistently say they want the government to do less, spend less, and not enforce a single set of values.